Alpine mid-season review: Highs, lows and looking ahead

Written by Peter Johnson, Edited by Meghana Sree

As we head into the second half of the 2025 Formula One season after a lengthy summer break, our F1 writers take you through the state of play with each team on the grid, starting with Alpine.

Pierre Gasly has been a shining light in an otherwise disappointing campaign for Alpine | Credit: Formula One

It is fair to say that 2025 has been another, new level of disappointment for Alpine. 

A poor 2024 campaign was rescued in the closing rounds by a remarkable, odds-defying double podium in São Paulo which more than doubled their points total, lifting them from eighth to sixth in the Constructors’ Championship. However, the chances of another season-transforming miracle this year appear remote.

Of the Team Principal and two drivers who arrived in Australia for the season opener, only Pierre Gasly remains. Oliver Oakes, who began the campaign as team boss, departed his position under acrimonious circumstances in May, just nine months after assuming his position.

Controversial figure Flavio Briatore, who led the Enstone-based outfit to two Drivers’ and Constructors’ title as Renault in 2005 and 2006, and at one time was banned for life from the Formula One paddock, returned as de facto Team Principal at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Alpine boss Flavio Briatore led the Enstone outfit to consecutive championships in 2005 and 2006 | Credit: Formula One

The goodwill towards Jack Doohan, who was drafted in Esteban Ocon’s place for last season’s Abu Dhabi finale, had reportedly dried up before the season even began. He was shuffled out in place of Argentine Franco Colapinto in another key personnel change before the race at Imola.

Neither swap, however, has led to any substantial improvement on track.

Gasly remains the team’s greatest asset and is the only driver in the current field to have scored 100% of his team’s points this season. His and Alpine’s best result came at the British Grand Prix, in what can best be described as a driver’s race. His sixth place, alongside Nico Hülkenberg’s heroic podium for Sauber, reflected the fact that the man behind the wheel was the point of difference on that particular day, rather than the car itself.

The head-to-head statistics reveal that Gasly has comfortably had the measure of both of his teammates so far in 2025. He was 5-1 up in Qualifying and led 4-2 in the Qualifying battle against Doohan before the Australian’s demotion after the Miami Grand Prix.

The Frenchman currently leads Colapinto 6-2 on a Saturday and 5-3 in races.

On a positive note, at least with Colapinto and Doohan now mathematically out of the title race, Alpine have a clear number one driver to back.

Jack Doohan (left) struggled in the opening six races and subsequently lost his seat | Credit: Formula One

High point

Gasly’s sixth place at Silverstone remains the team’s standout result, although his points finishes in Bahrain, Spain, Belgium and the Miami Sprint have all offered beacons of hope to a team in serious need of an upturn in performance.

It must also be noted that with 20 points, even if Alpine do finish bottom of the Constructors’ Championship, they will be the highest-scoring bottom-placed team in history. Scant consolation should it happen, but it does show that there have been some semi-regular decent results.

Low point

Word spread very early in the calendar year, even before the start of the season itself, that Alpine were considering swapping Doohan for Colapinto, as the young Argentine joined the team in January as test and reserve driver after half a season at Williams.

The pressure told on Doohan, and it was arguably a mercy that he was put out of his misery after six races when the inevitable change was made.

It was a very poor look for a team who had already been criticised for their ruthless dismissal of Ocon before the end of last season (to bring in Doohan, no less).

The decision has not exactly paid dividends either, with Colapinto yet to impress upon his return to the sport. He has even managed to add damage to his reputation over the summer break, having crashed during a Pirelli tyre test in Budapest the week after the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The problem the team and, more specifically, Briatore now have is that the Argentine was the returning team boss’ preference, and to ditch him so quickly would be an admission of poor judgement.

Franco Colapinto is yet to score a point since his return to the grid | Credit: Formula One

Looking ahead

Alpine currently sit rock bottom of the Constructors’ Championship with 20 points, 15 adrift of ninth-placed Haas. However, with only one driver ever threatening to score points, the team is fighting with one hand behind its back.

If Gasly and Colapinto were somehow to repeat the miracle of Brazil last season, a mid-table finish is not impossible. However, aside from the fact that the chances of such a feat seem incredibly remote, Aston Martin, Sauber and Racing Bulls all hit form before the summer break and look set to move further clear.

The biggest positive for Alpine right now is that the Frenchman is already under contract for next season, because one dreads to think where they may be without him.

Of course, the issue of their second driver remains up for debate, but as demonstrated by Red Bull, and even by Alpine themselves this season, a change is not always the answer.

The team began the season with a mind-blowing four reserve drivers, one of whom was Colapinto and another of whom was Japanese driver Ryo Hirakawa, who has already moved to Haas.

Paul Aron and Kush Maini are still on the team’s books, as is Doohan. They are not short of options, but Doohan has been written off once before and neither Aron nor Maini brings a guarantee of improved performances.

It may be a harsh but sad reality, but it looks like the Enstone team have made their bed and will have to lie in it until the regulation change for next season, which brings a clean slate and an opportunity to leap up the pecking order.